غربالگري شنوايي نوزادان در بيمارستان هاي ميلاد و هدايت شهر تهران

Neonatal Hearing Screening in Milad and Hedayat Hospital of Tehran

Introduction: Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent birth - defects. If remained unchecked it will probably cause delay in speech, language, and cognitive development. The screening Neonatal hearing as the most effective way of early detection of hearing loss is performed in most countries around the world. The main aim of this program was to screen neonatal hearing in 2 Tehran hospitals - namely, Milad and Hedayat hospitals. Material & Methods: During 12 months (from Oct 2002 till Oct 2003) 7718 neonates (3911 males and 3807 females) were screened. There were three stages in this project: initial screening, prescreening and diagnostic tests. The first and second stages were performed by OAE screener and the last stage, ABH evaluation, done only for the neonates who were referred from initial and secondary screening. For statistical Analysis, SPSS Software was used and graphs were drawn by the Excel software. Results: 9 neonates out of 7718 (one per thousand) had hearing loss and were referred to related services. Prevalence of impaired hearing impair among neonates was similar to previous researches on this subject around the world. Conclusion: It seems that we must raise the level of public awareness about the importance of early detection and intervention for hearing loss. In general, we must establish appropriate infrastructures and background knowledge among those involved in this field, and in particular, we must gain the support of authorities.